Guns and Werewolves
by Mrs.Monster
Summary: The Scoobie Gang move to Beacon Hills after the final battle with the First Evil in an effort to rebuild their lives and relationships. /Eventual crossover pairings/ Post-Chosen Buffy, season three Teen Wolf./ BtVS altered timelines, TW canon divergence.


**_Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Teen Wolf. _**

**_Author's Note: I've moved the Buffy timeline up so that almost one year post Chosen coincides with the beginning of season three of Teen Wolf. Self edited as usual. _**

**_..._**

_Guns and Werewolves_

_Chapter One_

_..._

"Are you sure we're even in California anymore?" Dawn Summers asked, hip leaning against the railing of the steps that lead to the front porch of their new house. She was squinting at the trees across the street that stretched as far as she could see.

Rolling her eyes as she carried a stack of boxes so tall that it defied reason, Dawn's older sister, Buffy, replied with worn patience. "Of course we are. There are forests all over California." She set the boxes down in the living room and retreated back to the porch. "It's going to be great." She must've said it at least a hundred times since they'd made the decision to move to Beacon Hills.

"So you keep saying." Dawn pushed off the railing and grabbed a floor lamp out of the rental truck. "And where the heck is everyone else? They're moving in with us, they can at least help with the _moving _part."

"You know that Giles won't be back from England until next week," Buffy said, casting a quick look around to make sure no one was watching before going to the truck for the sofa. "And Xander... well, he'll be here when he gets here. As for Willow and Kennedy, I'd like to know that, too. They were supposed to be here an hour ago."

Dawn followed Buffy into the house, the two back cushions of the sofa stacked awkwardly in her arms. "I still don't see why Kennedy has to live here. She and Willow haven't been together that long and don't they know that people who get together during stressful situations never make it? Haven't they seen _Speed_? Sandy B says so."

"It's the least we can do for Will." Buffy set the sofa down with a _thump_ before turning around and collapsing on it, head smacking against the wooden frame in the absence of the back cushions. In all honesty she wasn't thrilled about Kennedy moving in either. She'd never really gotten along with the younger Slayer and knew in her gut that Kennedy would never be content in a mostly-quiet place like Beacon Hills, but she couldn't bring herself to tell Willow so. "She deserves the chance to at least give it a shot."

"I guess." Dawn fixed and fluffed up a cushion before leaning back against it. The sisters were quiet for a few long minutes, Dawn already sweaty and winded, Buffy looking completely unruffled. The new house was bigger than their old one by two bedrooms and a bathroom, but either girl would have given anything to be back in Sunnydale, or to at least have some of their mom's things to argue about. Dawn would want to put her favorite hand-carved fertility statue on the mantlepiece while Buffy would have wanted to stash it in the back of the curio-cabinet that they didn't have anymore. Everything that they had to move in had been bought when they were still living out of a small apartment in LA and packed away in storage until they finalized the sale on the house in Beacon Hills.

"Are you nervous about the new job? You know it's harder to make friends in the workplace than anywhere else. Especially for people your age."

Buffy sliced a glare Dawn's way but gave it up and shrugged. "I guess a little. But I'm counting on this place being nothing like the Doublemeat Palace," Buffy said with a shudder. "What about you? Dreading Beacon Hills High?"

Dawn scoffed. "It'll be a breeze compared to Sunnydale. But I swear, first sign of ghosts in the basement and I'm making Willow home school me like she did in LA."

Willow and Kennedy showed up not long after that, looking disheveled and slightly shame-faced. With the extra Slayer-strength and Willow's witchy mojo they had the remaining half of the truck unpacked in no time. When Xander climbed out of an airport taxi at dusk, whiskey on his breath and no shame at all, they ordered pizza and ate around the kitchen island, drinking soda out of paper Dixie cups because no one could find the box with the glasses.

"This is going to be great," Buffy said again, gleefully smashing the pizza boxes into the too-small trashcan. Xander stopped to squeeze her in a brief hug before retreating into his room and Willow gave her a small, hopeful smile which canceled out the skepticism that was splashed across Kennedy's face.

Dawn just hooked an arm around her sister's waist and said, "Whatever loser, let's go set up the TV and watch Ninja Turtles."

...

Unless you looked closely you wouldn't know it, but the group that moved to Beacon Hills that mid-August had been in the battle of their lives only ten months previously. It had been a fight that changed everything, changed the world for those who knew it, and in those months the group affectionately (and sometimes not so affectionately) known as the Scoobies had managed to pull themselves back together through sheer determination. They were like a wall that had been torn down and then put back up, only the new wall wasn't _quite _as sturdy as the old one had been. Slightly uneven, spackled holes here and there, but regardless it worked to keep the cold out on a winter day.

Buffy marched through every day with an almost-genuine smile on her face, while deep inside there was the ache of something missing. She missed Spike, missed the steady companionship he'd shown at the end, and the loss of him made her weary- like deep muscle-ache the day after a good fight. And she missed her home. For all that she'd grown up in LA, Sunnydale had been home.

For Dawn, as long as she had Buffy and Willow and Xander, she could at least pretend to be happy. Their losses hadn't hit the teenager as hard as they probably should have, and she'd heard the others talking about it when they thought she couldn't hear. Dawn thought that maybe she was just desensitized to all of the death and violence. To her false memory she'd only been nine when Buffy was Called, and they'd moved to Sunnydale shortly after that, when Buffy burned down that school gym in LA. For almost half of her short life it'd been a never ending parade of bruised sisters, busted furniture and dusted vampires. What'd happened in Sunnydale was just the culmination of it all- in Dawn's mind, it'd been building for years. Mom was gone and she'd lived through losing Buffy already. What were a few more lives? Nothing could measure up. She missed Anya, but she didn't cradle the loss like Xander did. Spike's death hit a little closer to home, but by then she'd lost so much trust in him that Dawn hadn't really let the vampire into her heart again.

Beacon Hills was a new beginning. Buffy wasn't the only Slayer anymore, there were dozens- no _hundreds_- of others who could take up the post and defend the world. It didn't all rest on one girl's shoulders. The Watchers that had been scattered around the globe were called to arms by Rupert Giles, formerly retired and now high-ranking member of the Council, and they were working to locate as many new Slayers as they could. Many of the old traditions were tossed out, no longer held by a bunch of stuffed shirts, and it was a new age of the Watcher's Council. Buffy was free to live however she chose.

The Summers girls decided on the small town in northern California because it seemed to be the perfect mix of normal and supernatural. It was quiet enough that it didn't really draw much attention and they wouldn't have to worry about a Hellmouth or spring bringing a fresh apocalypse along with the new blooms. But, of course, word still got around. That occasionally Beacon Hills was a _beacon _for supernatural creatures, strange accidents sometimes happened, mysterious deaths. As terrible as it sounded, even to her own ears, Buffy chose the town because she knew that she wouldn't be brain-dead bored in Beacon Hills. Her hope was there would be enough action to keep her busy, but not so busy that she couldn't have a life of her own. It was selfish, horrible, and she knew it, but why lie to herself?

One by one what was left of the old Sunnydale gang decided to tag along with Buffy and Dawn. The reasons varied, but mostly it was because they were a family. A group of people couldn't almost die that many times together without forming a bond that would last a life time. After much discussion they did the clannish thing and just bought one big house, funded with a small chunk of the millions that the Council had squirreled away. Giles was the final piece of the puzzle and said that he could just as well do what he was doing for the other Watchers from California as he could right there in England, and he couldn't very well leave that lot unsupervised, could he? He'd tried that once and the world almost ended, he told Buffy and Willow very sternly, and he couldn't trust them not to cock it up again.

The house was big, old Craftsman style, on the very outskirts of Beacon Hills proper. It faced acres of forest and the yard itself was dotted with dogwood trees. Large enough that the group of six wouldn't be in each others laps, but not so big that they wouldn't get the closeness that they were all after.

While they lived in LA during the months after the destruction of Sunnydale, Buffy and Dawn and Willow shopped on the Council's dime- years of back-pay on Buffy's behalf, they all claimed- and outfitted their new home, trying their hardest not to make it a carbon copy of the one they left at the bottom of a hole. That home had been Joyce Summers top to bottom- this one was an eclectic mix of Buffy's girly streak, Willow's bohemian style and Dawn's tendency for simplicity, keeping in mind Giles and Xander's presence as well. Dark woods were paired with deco-floral and funky patterns, colors leaned heavily toward cream with splashes of brightness to ensure safety from monotony. Every lamp, plate, figurine, decorative bowl was chosen with firm idea of making their haven _theirs. _Bookshelves and weapons chests, stoneware and bone china, throw pillows and mattresses. It would all fill the house they'd picked and for once the hodgepodge family felt like they had some choice in their lives and futures.

And Buffy knew that it was going to be _great_.

...

The Autumn Moon was, in Buffy's opinion, a strange name for a coffee shop/bakery, but what did she know about naming bakeries? She couldn't even bake. Yet there she was, recently hired by-phone to work the front counter five days per week from six in the morning til two in the evening. Buffy had been assured by the owner, a Mrs. Mahealani, that she wouldn't be required to step foot into the kitchen unless it was to fetch fresh trays of baked goods. Buffy had arranged it so that her first day of work would coincide with Dawn's first day of school, partly as a way to keep herself busy and hopefully away from worry, but also to relieve Dawn's worries that she would burst into the school like a maniac like she had on Dawn's first day at Sunnydale High.

When she arrived at six, leaving Willow to wake Dawn up and ensure that she got to school on time (as per request by the teenager herself), Mrs. Mahealani and the other pastry chef (their degrees were proudly framed behind the counter) Linda had been there for hours already and the place smelled like heaven. Almost literally this was what Buffy's heaven smelled like, what she remembered of it, anyway. Mrs. Mahealani, Alice, let her through the front door. Alice was a petite with tanned skin, toothpaste-commercial teeth and ink-black hair that was pinned up, flyaway wisps framing her face. After brief introductions to Chef Linda, Alice handed Buffy a burnt-orange apron and put her directly to work hauling trays loaded down with cinnamon rolls, croissants, cupcakes, muffins, loaves of fresh bread, bagels and so on. They were displayed in cases like the art that they were, lit from above by soft bulbs that would highlight the fresh-baked quality of each item. The cases stretched under the cash register and the small amount of counter space left beside it, rising up almost as tall as Buffy herself and running the length of the room before cornering off to line the right side of the room.

Behind the counter were the machines that added the _coffee shop _description to the place with all the types of equipment needed to fill any order from plain black coffee to non-fat mochaccinos and Buffy was beginning to think that she'd been a little stupid to think that she'd gotten the easy job here. It was up to her to run the front counter and that entailed working the register, boxing baked goods and filling coffee orders.

Apparently Alice Mahealani believed in the sink or swim approach to training her employees because Buffy was thrown right into the before-school and pre-work-shift rush with only the owner herself behind the counter to show her the ropes. There wasn't time to worry about how Dawn was coping in a new school- or if she was at all- when Buffy had to keep her strength in constant check so that she wouldn't snap the handles off of thousand-plus dollar machines. She rushed back and forth, taking and filling orders, letting the happy people-person side of herself that she hadn't seen in years come to the surface.

Things slowed down around eight once students were in school and the working force of Beacon Hills were clocked into their respective positions. Buffy sagged against the counter, actually out of breath but she was loving it. The tempo was fast, but it beat a high-kick to the face any-day.

"You said that you were from Sunnydale?" asked Alice, beginning to condense what was left in the cases to make room for a fresh round of product. "You and your sister?"

Buffy nodded, moving to help. "We had to evacuate along with everyone else."

"Lucky that college student predicted the earthquake in time for everyone to evacuate."

An earthquake was the cover story that had been pumped through the media, and an unnamed student at UC Sunnydale was credited with picking up on the seismic activity that led up to the catastrophic event.

"Yeah, lucky," Buffy said, flashing what she hoped was a convincing smile. Just then Linda pushed her way through the swinging door with a fresh tray of vanilla-frosted lemon cupcakes, bringing the conversation to a halt.

Willow came in around nine, wearing the encouraging smile that Buffy knew so well.

"Dawnie made it to school on time with no problem," the red headed witch assured her friend. "She wanted me to stop by and let you know, so that you wouldn't worry."

"And so I wouldn't embarrass her on the first day again?"

"That too." Willow went to the display case next to the counter to inspect what was left of the vegan bran muffins. Buffy squinted at the laminated drink-recipe list Alice had taped on the counter next to the espresso pump and mixed up the soy chai latte that she knew Willow would order.

"How are things going at home?" Buffy asked as she tapped at buttons on the register.

Willow shrugged. "When I left Xander was still asleep and Kennedy was working in the basement." The house had a finished basement that would be turned into a training room. Living off the Hellmouth was no excuse to get rusty.

Buffy frowned as she handed Willow her change. "He doesn't seem to be getting any better, does he?"

"We've only been here a week, and besides, you know Xander. It'll take time and even then he'll never really be the same." This was a conversation they'd had before, and Buffy could tell that Willow's mind was turning to Tara like it so often did. Willow busied herself with a sip of her drink and Buffy passed the paper bag with Willow's breakfast over the counter.

"I'll see you at home, okay? Don't forget that it's your turn to cook," Willow headed toward the door.

"So-take out?"

Waving over her shoulder, the bell rang as Willow ducked out the door and disappeared down the street.

For lunch The Autumn Moon switched the breakfast pastries out with a selection of meat pies and vegetarian pies that were surprisingly popular. There was another crush of steady customers between noon and one and they sold out of beef-and-curry pies halfway through, and the roasted vegetable shortly after. Most customers skipped over hot drinks in favor of blended iced coffees or something from their limited menu of smoothies; again it was a mix of students going off-campus and people on lunch breaks, leaning heavily toward the latter. After the rush petered out Buffy, Alice and Linda caught lunch themselves with discarded meat pies that were still delicious but weren't put out because the crusts were damaged in some way.

"Well," Alice began, pausing to take a sip of water. "I'm pleased, Buffy. I'd love it if you stuck around."

"I plan to. I mean, it gets kind of crazy but I'm preferring to think of it as job security."

Linda, a tall, thin woman with pin-straight brown hair, laughed and said, "Welcome to the team."

...

After being kidnapped by an ancient goddess, living through three almost-apocalypses, fighting and killing countless vampires and crazy, self-mutilated monks, starting a new high school would be nothing. At least, that's what Dawn kept repeating to herself all morning as she got ready for her first day at Beacon Hills High, sometimes out-loud, drawing concerned questions from Willow who seemed to feel the need to stop and knock on Dawn's door every three and a half minutes. Despite her attempted self-reassurances, butterflies with iron-tipped wings were batting around in her stomach as she dressed in jeans, a indigo blue top made of soft-cotton and her favorite pair of black flats. They were ill-equipped for battle, but she was hoping that she could make it through this without finding herself in one.

That this was a legitimate hope with a questionable outcome was truly a testament to Dawn's unusual life.

Out of habit she slipped a cross on a long, thin silver chain over her head and tucked the pendant inside of her shirt before brushing her hair out and heading for the kitchen to find breakfast. Willow made wheat pancakes and Dawn ate a healthy stack before grabbing her brand new backpack and climbing into the communal car for Willow to drive her.

"It's a lot smaller than Sunnydale High," Dawn said as they pulled up out front.

"Beacon Hills _is _smaller than Sunnydale, so it makes sense. Want me to go in with you?"

Dawn shook her head. "I think I can find the office all on my own." She knew that she was being snippy, but she couldn't help it. Those butterflies were going at mach-speed now and she knew that something horrible was going to happen. Big or small, this was going to be a disaster.

"It'll be fine," Willow said, encouragement practically dripping from her words. "As long as there's no portal to hell in the basement you're already a step in the right direction."

"Yeah." Dawn popped the door open and warm August morning air rushed inside. "It's going to be _great._"

She met with the guidance counselor in the main office. Ms. Morrell was a beautiful, if stoic, woman but something about her gave Dawn the wiggins. Putting it down to nerves and paranoia, Dawn gathered the glossy new books Ms. Morrell slid toward her and accepted her schedule, locker number and combination. There was no attempt at small talk as Morrell walked her to her locker and left her there with directions to her first class. Dawn shoved her books inside and headed for first period Econ.

...

Dawn left her first class feeling a little shell shocked. There was a touch at her elbow and Dawn whipped around, seeing the nice looking girl who had been sitting next to her. The girl smiled at her, flashing dimples.

"Finstock can be a lot to take in at first."

Dawn forced a smile of her own. "His teaching style is certainly... different."

The girl laughed. "I'm Allison," she introduced herself. Allison had dark hair that curled artfully around her ivory, heart-shaped face. Her eyes were dark and her lips were pink and her smile was friendly.

"Dawn Summers. I'm new."

"I figured. I only moved here a few years ago myself. What's your next class?" Allison asked as she waved distractedly to two boys who were filing out of the Econ classroom.

Dawn pulled her schedule from her jeans pocket and unfolded it. "Chem with Mr. Harris?"

Wincing, Allison linked her arm with Dawn's. "Me too and you're in for another interesting class. Come on, lets walk together."

Chemistry flew by in a flurry of question and answer segments, short lab work and direct insults from Mr. Harris and before she knew it Dawn was being dragged to the cafeteria for lunch with Allison. Her stomach was calming as the day went on and none of her bad-school-luck seemed to have followed her from Sunnydale. Besides, nerves had never affected her appetite, anyway. Lunch period was always where the social hierarchy came into play in high school but luckily it seemed like she'd already made a friend and skipped right over what she anticipated would be the most painful moment of her day- where she would sit. Allison just led her to a table in a corner toward the back of the cafeteria and little by little, people joined them.

The first was a girl with long strawberry blonde hair, intelligent green eyes and model-type beauty. "Still picking up strays, Allison? France hasn't changed you at all." Dawn shot Allison a look but Allison just gave the girl an indulgent smile.

"Dawn, this is Lydia. Don't mind her, she's harmless."

"I most certainly am _not_," Lydia snipped, but her mouth curled up into a smile. "You have really pretty eyes." It was stated as a simple fact, a compliment quick as a bullet, and Lydia turned her attention to her lunch.

"Um... thanks?"

Lydia just hummed in response, pulled a sketch pad and charcoal pencil from her bag and began sketching something with quick, sure lines. Dawn watched her for a moment before diving into her own lunch. From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of movement. When she turned to look she saw that it was one of the boys that Allison had waved to outside of Finstock's classroom and had sat behind them in Chem class. The one with tanned skin, dark eyes and slightly crooked jawline. He was hesitating like he was trying to make a decision, a tray with a truly astonishing amount of food balanced in one hand and Dawn realized that he was staring at Allison at the same time the girl in question looked up. Dawn bit into a french fry as Allison motioned for the boy to come and sit across from them. He smiled crookedly as another boy practically ran into his back- the other one from earlier. This boy was taller, thinner, pale, with broad shoulders and a shock of unkempt dark hair. The two sat next to each other, and Allison introduced them as Scott and Stiles.

Stiles grinned big and easy at her before leaning slightly into Lydia's personal space. "You look especially wonderful today, Lydia."

"I know," she cast him a brief glance before continuing to fork salad into her mouth with her right hand and draw what was turning into a graveyard with her left. Stiles's smile turned fond and he settled back into his seat, eating with large, untroubled bites. Scott was watching Allison eat a turkey sandwich with big moon-eyes and Dawn found herself feeling shy with this group of people who obviously knew each other well. They were joined by another boy who had also been in Harris's class. He had curly dirty-blonde hair, was taller than Stiles and sat on Scott's other side without a word, hunching almost protectively over his tray.

"Where did you come from?" Stiles asked around a mouthful of sandwich, mustard staining the corner of his mouth. Having seen much worse from Xander, Dawn was unfazed.

"LA for almost a year, but before that, Sunnydale," Dawn answered, fighting hard not to squirm under the attention of the table.

"Isn't that place a crater now?" he asked after swallowing.

"Yep."

"Earthquake," Lydia offered, not looking up.

"I'm sorry," Allison said, "that's terrible."

"Did you know any of the people who- ow!" Stiles cut off, rubbing the spot on his side where Scott had elbowed him. "What? I was just gonna ask if she knew anyone who-"

"Died?" Dawn finished for him. Stiles did a nod/shrug combo. "Yeah, I did." Dawn cleared her throat and busied herself with squirting ketchup from a packet onto her burger. "So you were in France this summer, Allison? What was that like?"

The conversation moved away from her quickly and Dawn let out a quiet sigh of relief. _See? _she thought. _This school thing is no big deal._

_..._

Buffy was waiting outside of the school when Dawn finally pushed her way out. Smelling like a walking cupcake, Buffy climbed into the car and watched her sister wave and smile at a few other teenagers before making her way over.

"See!" Buffy said excitedly as Dawn buckled her seat-belt. "You made friends already! Didn't I tell you that this was going to be-"

"Don't say it again," Dawn groaned, but then patted her sisters arm to soften the cut-off. "You were right. It wasn't completely terrible." Her grip turned white-knuckle on the car door as Buffy cut around a corner going much faster than she should have. "How was your first day at work?"

They settled into comfortable conversation on the drive home and continued it as they settled around the kitchen island with a few sausage-pies from the discard pile that Buffy had been allowed to bring home. Xander joined them shortly after, unshaven but freshly-showered and hooked a hug around Dawn's neck.

"How goes it, Summers women?"

Dawn poked him affectionately in the side, but still hard enough to make him wince. "We were talking about patrolling, how it might not be a bad idea."

"You think somethin's up?" he asked Buffy, piling a sandwich together. Buffy was sure it was the first time he'd eaten since sometime the day before.

"Not really, I just get this weird feeling sometimes. Almost like the spidey-sense when vamps are around, but different at the same time."

"Well that's all cleared up then."

"Shut it. You wanna help?"

"Put me on rotation, boss lady," Xander said.


End file.
